The first airfield in the US to be called airport was just closed, as the Courier Post reports. In 1919, the term airport was coined for Bader Field in Atlantic City because it was bordered on three sides by water. Every U.S. President from Thomas Roosevelt through Gerald Ford had flown there. The Civil Air…
This morning, Senator Charles Schumer(D-NY), announced that discount airline Airtran would be offering service from the Newburgh airport, 55 miles from downtown Manhattan, effective January 11. “The tides are changing,” Schumer commented. “You might even say a new moon is rising. Better low-cost service is something I’ve worked very hard on for upstate New York.”…
The much-anticipated Airbus 380 has received another blow. Airbus has once again postponed its delivery schedule. The project is turning into a major embarassment for Airbus, which was supposed to give it a strategic advantage over its main competitor, Boeing. Its superjumbo status, and its continual problems put into mind the Hughes H-4 Hercules, more…
As Upgrade Travel reports, a Turkish hijacker took over a Turkish Airlines flight from Tirana, Albania to Istanbul. The flight was diverted to Brindisi, Italy. The hijacker was apparently attempting to communicate with the Pope and was later identified as Hakan Ekinci, a convert to Christianity who wanted the Pope’s help to avoid compulsory military…
After six years of offering Pepsi products, Spirit Airlines is now serving Coca-Cola beverages.
The other day, Seth Stein, an architect who is no stranger to travelling for his business, was mistaken for an Islamic terrorist and pinned to his seat onboard his American Airlines flight. He was pounced on as the crew and other passengers watched. Mr. Stein, who was sitting down with a book and ginger-ale, was…
As USAToday reports, this week, New York discounter Jetblue asked the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to operates eight flights a day to Chicago’s O’Hare airport. The FAA limits the number of flights that can arrival hourly at O’Hare, but has been known to allow airlines inroads into the fortress hub of both American and…
In a press release, Southwest announced the inauguration of service from Dulles airport today with twelve daily nonstop departures: Seven daily flights to Chicago-Midway, once daily to Las Vegas, and twice daily to Orlando and Tampa Bay. The service complements Southwest’s hub at Thurgood Marshall International Airport in Baltimore(BWI), and provides an alternative to Northern…
The Consumerist reported the other day on a Southwest passenger who had a flight delay…didn’t complain, and received a voucher in the mail for $200…twice the price of their ticket, with a letter explaining the delay. For all you can say about Southwest…you may not like what they have to say all the time…but they…
Not long ago, we wrote a summary of in-flight exercises. InFlightHQ.com…ironically sponsored by Boeing Connexion, posted this…on inflight yoga, linking to a podcast that walks one through doing yoga on an aircraft.
Boeing has emphasized its view of the future in the development of the 787 Dreamliner. It is made of lightweight and durable composites including advanced aluminum alloys. The most important goal of the Dreamliner is an increase in fuel efficiency. Seeking Alpha summarizes the development of the Boeing aircraft, which is 33% made in the…
The Associated Press reports that Northwest Airlines is expected to make a large order for regional jets in the next few weeks. Not only has it launched its new subsidiary, Compass Airlines, for its regional flying, it needs to replace 105 ancient DC-9 aircraft. The DC-9 began service in 1965, and evolved design-wise into the…
We recently wrote on the subject of Northwest’s aircraft purchase. We are pleased to announce that Northwest has begun its order with 72 jets. Northwest has ordered 36 Embraer 175s to be flown by their new subsidiary, Compass Airlines as well as an additional order for 36 Bombardier CRJ-900 jets to be flown by a…
As Crain’s Chicago Business reports, the FAA has dismissed objections by American and United Airlines in regards to Jetblue’s proposal to serve Chicago-O’Hare Airport. Thus, it can allow Jetblue or any new entrant to gain access to the airport under a system that will be modified on October 29th. The FAA thus has said that…
Airbus’s chief executive, Louis Gallois, who took the position on Monday, warned that “painful” job cuts would be needed to turn the aircraft manufacturer around. Gallois replaced Christian Streiff, who resigned after less than 100 days on the job. As the Independent reports, Gallois pledged to proceed with the new A350 mid-sized jet, needed to…
Flightglobal.com reports that Delta will be the US launch customer for the Boeing 777-200LR. The two are converted from a previous 200ER order previously placed by Delta. The first of this type of aircraft was delivered to Pakistan Internation Airlines in February. Air Canada has 11 on order. Delta may also accept additional deliveries as…
Today, as Delta announced its international expansion, Northwest announced its first major expansion since bankruptcy. Since the two carriers declared bankruptcy at the same time, Northwest seems to like to announce things the same day Delta does. Delta has had an aggressive international expansion plan since bankruptcy. Northwest, however, has engaged in very little in…
Today, Northwest and Delta both announced expansion plans. As the Associated Press notes in regards to Northwest, airline consultant Alan Sbarra said that expansion fits with a policy now popular amoung US carriers of “avoiding competition by going to Europe.” The push to offer more international service could possibly increase competiton and thus lower fares…
We follow SeekingAlpha and their coverage of financial issues for a variety of reasons. In a recent article, as part of their Sound Money Tips column, they reminded us of the importance of travel insurance. We continue to emphasize this ourselves. They advise the following three hints: Read the fine print – Unless you know…
The Globe and Mail reported today on Porter Airlines. Porter is a recent Canadian upstart run by Donald Carty, a former American Airlines CEO. He held executive positions with American and its parent AMR Corporation from 1978 through 2003, which certainly qualifies him to be chairman of an airline. He is also the chairman of…
As Today in the Sky reports, more than 185,000 passengers were involuntarily bumped off airline flights during the second quarter of 2006, a 40% increase over the same period in 2005. It is the highest second-quarter figure since 2000. The number of fliers who gave up seats on flights rose 10%. We suggest you read…
As Southwest reports in a press release, Southwest Airlines this morning celebrated the phased-out repeal of the Wright Amendment with the rollout of new connecting service for Love Field. By this Thursday, passengers can take full advantage of 25 new destinations on Southwest from Dallas Love Field Airport: Baltimore/Washington, Chicago Midway, Cleveland, Columbus, Denver, Detroit,…
In several press releases issued over the last day, the various airlines have weighed in on the benefits of their proposed China routes. We briefly touched on the issue in a previous post. United Airlines commented in their press release that a Washington-Beijing service would link the two capitals, and would be the first China…
As Today in the Sky reports, The FAA approved Jetblue’s application for four daily flights from Chicago-O’Hare, arrival authorizations at 8:30, two at 11, and 4. However, Jetblue must initiate service by October 28, and flight operations by January 27, 2007. Jetblue is likely to operate at least some of the flights to its Kennedy…
Today we are proud to announce the first phase of a new Flight Wisdom main website. It is a tremendous improvement over the old website in various ways and uses state-of-the-art content management software to autoindex and arrange our content. Bookmark it, as we will be adding new material and updates to it over the…